Centre to Chandigarh: How do you want to develop property along Metro rail

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The Chandigarh Administration intends to generate revenue through commercial activities, advertisement in stations, renting out of commercial outlets inside stations, quick service restaurants and increasing floor area ratio (FAR) along the metro corridors. FAR is the ratio of the total floor area of a building to the area of land it is built on.

According to sources, the ministry wants a well-thought-out plan for revenue generation through property development.

The administration also plans to generate funds by imposing Metro cess, tax on commercial vehicles entering the city and green cess on registration of new vehicles.

Despite repeated attempts, UT finance secretary-cum-secretary (Metro) Sarvjit Singh could not be contacted for comment.

The total length of the project covering Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula is 37.57 km, of which the majority of the proposed two corridors fall in Chandigarh. A total of 30 stations have been proposed. As per the revised detailed project report prepared by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, the cost of the project has escalated by Rs 2,700 crore. The earlier estimated cost of the project was Rs 10,900 crore, which now as per the revised DPR is Rs 13,600 crore. Around 75 per cent of funding of the project has to come from MoUD and Chandigarh while the remaining amount is to be shared by state governments of Haryana and Punjab.

The administration had recently sent the revised DPR to MoUD for putting up before the Union Cabinet for approval. After getting a nod from the Union Cabinet, SPV will be notified. The initial equity of SPV is around Rs 100 crore, which is to be shared equally by MoUD, Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab.

Marred by delay

AS per the DPR, the work on the first corridor covering a distance of 12.49 km from Capitol Complex to Gurdwara Singh Shaheedan was expected to start from April 2013 and get operational by 2018. Although Chandigarh, Haryana and Punjab have signed a memorandum of understanding, SPV has not been notified so far. Corridor 2 from PGIMER to grain market, Panchkula, will cover a total route length of 25.08 km.

How to raise funds
1) Loan from agencies such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency
2) By imposing Metro cess on sale of petrol and diesel
3) Tax on commercial vehicles entering the city
4) Green cess on registration of new vehicles
5) To allow increase in FAR along the metro corridors